Kenyan men will be among other men from five countries in the world to participate in the new male birth control gel trial.

The trial seeks to test how effective the gel is in preventing the production of sperms.

The clinical trial is set to begin in April and will run for four years. 400 men are set to participate.

The gel developed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, contains two synthetic hormones – testosterone and a form of progestin.

The progestin is supposed to block the production of testosterone from producing normal levels of sperms.

A man will not be able to impregnate a woman for three days as the gel suppresses the sperm levels for 72 hours.

How it will work

Men will be required to use the gel for four months and their sperm levels monitored by the researchers over that period.

“Men in the trial will take home a pump bottle of the gel and rub about half a teaspoon of it on their upper arms and shoulders every day. The gel dries within a minute,” said Program director for contraception development at the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Other countries that will be participating include men from the UK, US, Italyy, Sweden and Chile.

Source: Nairobi News